News 8/2/12

The HIT Policy Committee’s Meaningful Use Workgroup presented its preliminary draft recommendations for MU Stage 3 on Wednesday, planning to present the final draft in November. Some notable recommendations impacting EPs include:

• More than 50% of all prescriptions written by an EP are compared to at least one drug formulary and transmitted electronically.
• Implement 15 clinical decision support interventions related to five or more clinical quality measures at a relevant point in patient care for the entire EHR reporting period.
• Enable functionality for drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks for the entire EHR reporting period.
• Store more than 80% of all clinical lab results ordered by the EP into the EHR as structured data.
• Present real-time dashboards of patients with specific conditions for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, or outreach.
• Record electronic notes in patient records for more than 30% of office visits within four calendar days.
• For non-English speaking population, provide additional patient education materials.
• Engage at least 15% of patients in secure messaging communication with EPs.
• Support the electronic receipt of immunization histories from an immunization registry or information system for at least 30% of immunized patients.
• Offer at least 10% of patients the option to submit histories or clinical data online.

 

Pine Medical Group (MI) says that its use of SRS’s Continuity of Care Exchange (CCX) platform to share discrete clinical data with the Wellcentive registry has resulted in increased practice revenue and helped the practice meet PCMH care management requirements.

 

Kareo CEO Dan Rodrigues advises physicians on the use of technology to thrive in business. Specific recommendations include eliminating paper, sharing office space with other practices, and using social media to get referrals.

GE Healthcare IT reports that its customers have received more than $100 million in MU incentive payments since the program’s inception, including 4,250 EPs earning $80 million using Centricity Practice Solution or Centricity EMR.

 

Thanks to the reader who forwarded this link to CMS’s a 15-minute video slideshow, which overviews the PQRS and e-prescribing incentive programs. It’s a nice tutorial for someone who wants to learn the basics of the programs.

 

Hello Health announces the addition of 20 practices to the Hello Health Electronic Medical Revenue Platform.

 

Latest MU numbers from CMS as of the end of June:

• Medicare and Medicaid have issued over $6  billion in payments.
• Medicare has paid more than $1 billion to 62,177 EPs (including 55,275 physicians).
• Medicaid has awarded 46,136 EPs (34,067 physicians and more than 9,000 PAs/NPs/MWs) a total of $963 million.
• Family practice and internal medicine specialists represent 43% of all doctors or medicine or osteopathy receiving MU funds.

 

Speaking of CMS, Medicare.gov issued a Tweet today reminding EPs that October 3 is the last day to start their 90-day MU reporting period for calendar year 2012. That’s just over 60 days from now, meaning if you don’t yet have a certified EHR in place but want to attest for MU funds, it could possibly be too late to make a purchase or implement an upgrade.

Minnesota achieves the highest rate of e-prescribing use in 2011, with 61% of prescribers routing prescriptions electronically. Massachusetts and New Hampshire had the highest physician adoption rate at 86%.

One-third of US physicians say they will leave medicine within the next decade, including more than half of all hematologists and oncologists. Their primary drivers are economic (medical malpractice and overhead costs) and regulatory (health reform changes.)

E-mail Inga.